


Lazy Saturday

by Madame de flammes (owlaholic68)



Category: Monster of the Week (Tabletop RPG), Original Work
Genre: Gen, Harriett and Lucy, Implied Sexual Content, Swearing, which is a warning all by itself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 14:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlaholic68/pseuds/Madame%20de%20flammes
Summary: Jacques' sisters have a relatively quiet day.





	Lazy Saturday

The city looks different at sunrise. Harriett forces herself up while it’s still dark and roams the quiet town. She transforms into a bird and soars up to the top of the Old Cathedral, turning back into her humanoid form and settling in with her legs dangling off the edge, heels kicking against the cherubic statues that surround her.

A demon perched upon a monument to all things Holy. Harriett enjoys amusement at the irony and watches the sun rise, a melted ball of red gas and fire. It casts red shadows on the buildings, tints the river orange and crimson.

It looks like the city’s on fire. Harriett drinks in the sight.

The comparison ignites the urge to set something ablaze. She scans the area below, eager to find something relatively harmless to destroy. What could she do that wouldn’t make Jacques too mad at her? Lucy’s still in the doghouse and Harriett has no desire to join her.

Speaking of Lucy, she’d love to join in on this. Harriett shoots her a quick text. If she doesn’t respond in a couple of hours, Harriett will just go by herself. But nobody enjoys a good bout of arson more than Lucy, and Harriett would hate to deprive her of that satisfaction.

Maybe the fairgrounds. It’s almost winter so nobody would really care, and Harriett hates the fair.

Yeah, maybe she’ll light the fairgrounds on fire. Start the day off right.

* * *

“Ma’am, I think you’re supposed to be more subtle.”

Lucy glares up at Cecilus. “Well, sneaking around is boring. That’s Harriett’s job.”

A few other library patrons turn at the volume of her voice, but Lucy couldn’t give less of a fuck.

Cecilus sits at the table with her. “Well, why are you doing this anyways if it’s Harriett’s job?”

“Cause Jacques asked me to. It’s punishment, I think.” She yawns and puts her feet up on the table. This library has nice tables, so she makes sure to scuff it up with her shoes as much as possible. “Following someone this _boring_ has gotta be punishment.”

She deliberately pitched her voice loud enough that James, sitting two tables away, turns and glares at her. She sticks out her tongue at him and turns to Cecilus.

“People you follow aren’t supposed to notice you,” he points out.

“Did I make a deal with you so that you could criticize my methods, Cecilus? Or did I take you on as my apprentice to actually fucking _learn _something? You should have learned by now that we all do things different.” Lucy sighs. “Besides, little ol’ Bookworm over there _isn’t _going to _not _notice me. He’s not an idiot and like we said before, I’m not Harriett.”

Cecilus frowns. “Still, Ma’am. On principle, I feel like you should at least try. You could use magic.”

“Nah.”

“I could use magic.”

“Meh, too much work. It’s Saturday, relax for once.”

Because Cecilus is a smart man, he drops it and wanders off, returning with a few magazines that he peruses while Lucy stares at the back of James’ head and wonders how the fuck Jacques fell for someone so _boring._

* * *

For once, Harriett is _accidentally _following someone. She really didn’t mean to. Honestly.

She was doing some light shopping at the local farmer’s market when she spotted a distinctive figure sticking out from the crowd. Her heart aches at the sight: Caradoc looks magnificent among all these losers, two of their hands tucked into their pockets, wings folded against their back as to not hit other market-goers.

They didn’t spot Harriett, so she follows them through the maze of stalls and booths. She easily slips through the crowd to stay within sight, but not close enough that Caradoc might spot her. They stop at a few booths but don’t buy anything, though they do linger for a long time at one particular stand.

Harriett investigates. Caradoc hesitated at a booth that sold candies and fudge. Oh right, junk food. That quirk was Lucy’s idea, but Harriett also had a sweet tooth.

In the center of one of the smaller city squares, Caradoc sits on a bench and starts to people-watch. Harriett quickly buys a small bag of maple candies and a half a block of fudge. The fudge she shoves into her own purse, but she keeps the candy in her hand and does what she does best.

Nobody sees Harriett unless she _wants _them to see her.

The bag of candy is in Caradoc’s lap and they don’t notice her brushing past. She posts up in the shadow of a nearby building to watch.

They look confused, inspecting the bag of candy from all angles before tentatively opening it and sniffing one. Caradoc shrugs and pops a candy into their mouth. Their face breaks out into a smile and Harriett eases.

She didn’t come here to follow Caradoc around, though. Harriett tears her eyes away and heads further into the quaint market. Maybe she’ll pick up a snack for lunch.

* * *

“What?” Lucy reclines and grins. “You have a problem, Sugar?”

“I – I just-” James looks five seconds away from losing it in the middle of the grocery store. “Lucy – why, just _why?” _

“Why what?” She innocently drapes one arm on the side of the shopping cart.

“Why are you sitting in my cart?”

Lucy shrugs and shifts her feet so they’re dangling out of the side of the cart. “Bored.”

James sighs and rubs his forehead. “Do you mind being bored somewhere else?”

“I _do _mind, actually.” She kicks her feet and almost hits a suburban mom, who glares at her. “I have to do some shopping too. Thought I’d knock out a few birds with one stone.” She sifts through the goods already in the cart. “I really hope you have more shit to grab, because I sincerely want to believe you’re not just buying potatoes, cheddar cheese, canned beans, and – saltine crackers? _Really?”_

“What’s wrong with saltine crackers?” James starts pushing the cart in an effort to ignore her.

“What the fuck is wrong with _you?_ Are you okay? Are you sick? Oh holy shit, you’re totally sick.” Lucy chucks the saltine crackers out of the cart and onto the ground. “This is an emergency. I’m calling Jacques right now and telling him you’re deathly ill. There’s no other reason someone would buy saltine crackers, for fuck’s sake.”

James picks up the crackers and puts them back into the cart. “Hey! I’m making _soup, _Lucy! I’m not sick!”

Lucy scrunches up her nose. “Ew, you’re making soup? Are you sure you’re not dying? Who the fuck wants to voluntarily eat soup?” She reaches out and snags a box of cake mix from the aisle as they pass.

James has evidently decided to try to ignore her. He succeeds in ignoring her jabs at his choice of produce. Lucy tries throwing various items out of the cart until James retaliates by tossing her cake mix several feet away and refusing to retrieve it until she agrees to leave his produce alone. Lucy picks up a few apples and small seasonal gourds that look sufficient for her dark needs, and makes James go past the sample-givers several times even though you’re only supposed to get one sample.

Overall, he’s being a little less reactive than she’d like. _Lame._

“Do you need to buy any lube?” She blurts apropos of nothing.

“Um sorry?” James tries to pretend like he didn’t hear her right. “Excuse me, Lucy?”

“Lube. Sexual lubricant.” Lucy smiles a smile that has been appropriately described as ‘evil’ and ‘demonic.’ “Do you know what lube is, James?”

“Yes,” he hisses, face and ears turning red. “Lucy-”

“I just wanted to make sure you didn’t need any lube.” She raises her voice and talks over him. “I thought maybe you’d forgotten to put it on your list.”

Her loud tone makes him blush even more, if that was even possible. “Lucy, I don’t need any,” he fiercely whispers. “Can you please-”

“Why not? Why don’t you need any lube?”

“Lucy-”

“Don’t you and my brother have _sex?” _She raises her voice another level. “Don’t you use _personal lubricant _when you make _sweet love_ to each other?” Many passersby are starting to either glare at her or completely avoid their area. There are a couple of teenagers giggling at the end of the aisle.

James looks like he’d be happy to sink into the floor and die of embarrassment. “Lucy, shut up-”

_“Lucy, shut up-” _She mocks.

He glares at her and stops the cart. He pulls out his phone and angrily dials a number.

“Aw, are you gonna go cry to your boyfriend about it?”

“Yes,” he snaps, holding the phone to his ear as it rings. “Maybe then he can get you to leave me alone.”

Lucy flinches and shrinks back.

James notices her sudden mood shift. “What?”

“Jacques is still mad at me.” Lucy clears her throat to try to clear the unexpected knot of anxiety. “I – I’m still in a ton of trouble for hitting you that one time.”

“Well, you’ll be in more trouble. I thought you _enjoyed _causing trouble. Now stop complaining that you’re on the other side of it.”

“The last time Jacques got mad at me he stabbed me,” Lucy says in a rush. The phone is still ringing; Jacques takes forever to answer his phone. _Don’t answer, don’t answer, _she silently pleads. “I’ll do whatever, James. I’m sorry – I’ll leave you alone, just don’t tell Jacques.”

He stares at her and Lucy can see the moment her gamble pays off: James has always been too nice for his own good. And too observant: He sees that, for once, she’s not fucking with him. He hesitates and starts to pull the phone away to hang up when Jacques picks up.

“H-Hello, dear,” James quickly says. He shoots Lucy a panicked look. “Yes, everything’s fine, I just – um – do we need any p-pasta?” He nods at Jacques’ response. “Thanks, I thought so, but I forgot to put it on my list. Yes, dear, I’m still at the store. I’ll be home soon.” He briefly looks guilty before quickly hanging up.

“Everything alright?” Lucy asks, genuinely curious. Last she heard, everything was back to sunshine and rainbows with those two.

“Fine,” James says. “I – I’m just a little mad at Jacques still.”

Lucy nods. “You hide it well. He’ll follow you to the moon and back, but you’re not that weak for him, are you?” Her grin returns. “You’ve walked out on him before and you’ll do it again, but he goes a day without you and starts losing his fucking mind. I’ve seriously underestimated you, James.”

He shrugs. “Yeah, well…” He shrugs again and looks uncomfortable with her analysis. “Um, we’d better check out now.”

“I guess, unless you’ve got any other boring shit to buy.” Lucy puts the tease back in her voice, if only just to make James look a little less awkward. “Do you even _need_ to eat, dude? Why the fuck do you two even _have _food?”

“Hey, I still like eating!” He defends, but a ghost of a smile returns to his face too. “Don’t you want to just eat a nice meal once in a while? Or have some ice cream or something?”

Lucy sticks her tongue out at him. “Nah, Harriett’s the one that likes to eat. Her and her stupid sweet tooth. Me, I couldn’t really give a fuck either way.”

They reach the checkout and James starts putting things on the conveyor belt. He gives the cashier an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry if we are disturbing anyone,” he whispers to the cashier, “my – my sister-in-law likes to be a little rowdy. She doesn’t mean any harm.”

Sister-in-law. Lucy does a double take, but it’s not totally untrue. She’s just never heard him refer to her like that. And when’s the last time that somebody referred to her as anything other than a nuisance? It makes a bit of warmth swell in her chest.

_You need to stop hanging around all these nice people, _she resolves. _You’re getting too sappy, Lucy. A few more weeks of dealing with James and you’ll turn into Jacques, soft and weak and too lovesick to think right. Next think you know, you’ll be saying ‘thank you’ to people. This has to stop now. _

They check out and James pays for Lucy’s stuff too without a word.

“Fuck me, but you’re way too nice,” Lucy comments as they leave. “What’s wrong with you?”

James shrugs. “It’s just the way I am. Do you need a ride anywhere, Lucy?”

“No, fuck off.” She really needs to get back into the groove of being an asshole. She struggles to climb out of the cart and harmlessly slaps away James’ hand as he tries to help her. “Bye, dude. I’ve had enough of your sweet fuckin’ attitude.”

He’s still smiling. _Fuck _him, Lucy’s trying to be mean. “You have a nice day, Lucy. I’ll be seeing you around, then?”

Lucy doesn’t answer. She turns on her heel and makes a rude gesture at James.

_“Have a nice day, Lucy,” _she mocks under her breath as she walks away. “Go fuck yourself. I’m going to go push someone off a bridge. That’ll be a damn nice day.”

**Author's Note:**

> A small interlude featuring two of my favorite NPCs. Takes place after our most recent Hunt with Mama.


End file.
